History SL

Katharina Ziegeler                November 2007

The USSR under Lenin

To what extent was the USSR under Lenin an orthodox communist state?

From the October Revolution in 1917 until his death in January 1924 Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, ruled Russia via the Communist Party. He justified his rule by a philosophical and political ideology called Marxism-Leninism, an adjusted form of the teachings of Karl Marx. This ideology is usually referred to as Communism. But to what extent was the USSR under Lenin in fact an orthodox communist state? The truth is that Lenin’s policies were influenced by his pragmatism almost as much as by his belief in communism. The extent of his adherence to communist doctrine is to be looked into in this essay.

An important characteristic of Communism is a strong aversion to religion. Thus already Karl Marx stated that “Religion is the opium of the masses” and was convinced that “The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.” Additionally, the Bolsheviks strongly associated the Orthodox Church with the Tsarist regime and were therefore even more determined to abolish it. The separation of church and state and the ban of the church from owning property in the ‘Decree on Freedom of Conscience and on Church and Religious Associations’ (1918) was the first step to abolishing the orthodox church in Russia. During the Civil Wars (1918-20) soviets were actively encouraged to remove valuable items from churches. This lead to clashes between the authorities and members of the church – these clashes cost some 8,000 people their lives. Two major show trials in Moscow and Petrograd followed, accusing leading churchmen of counter-revolutionary activities. All in all it can be said that the church lost almost all their influence under Lenin’s Bolshevik government – they were not allowed to own land; they were no longer allowed to teach; they had been robbed of a major part of their wealth; they became the target of a major propaganda campaign to ridicule the church, which consequently lost a large amount of their credibility among the Russian people.

In this sense it can be said that the USSR under Lenin was a truly orthodox communist state as far as the treatment of the church and religious groups was concerned.

Join now!

Another important characteristic of a communist society is equality between men and women – according to Karl Marx “social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex.” Thus Lenin was determined to strengthen the role of women within society. To this end divorce policies became much more liberal than they had been under the Tsarist regime – marriages could easily be dissolved on demand of either partner; “incompatibility” was a valid enough reason. On top of this, abortion policies were relaxed drastically. Not only did abortion become free of charge but could also be ...

This is a preview of the whole essay